The Jewish Museum

There are 2 unbelievable exhibits at the Jewish Museum.   

The first exhibit we saw is called The Jewish Identify Project: New American Photography.  The museum commissioned ten projects from thirteen photographers and video artists across the country.  They asked them to create works that raise the question of culture identity.  The results are thought provoking.  One artist staged pictures of herself, she is Korean, at different weddings, her being the bride, among Jewish communities.  Is she Jewish too?  Is she not?  Is she marrying into this?  Another artist took pictures of 5 different teenagers.  Intense portraits.  There are headphones and you listen to the kid in the picture explaining their links to Judaism.  Some have one parent Jewish the other not, others were converted through adoption, etc., and you hear about their experience and ties to religion.  We are living in society with such a mixture of race, ethnic and social backgrounds.  This is a brilliant exhibit to call attention to not only about the identity of being Jewish but any other religion for that matter.  Must see. 

The second exhibit are major works from Joan Snyder that she painted from 1969-2005.  She is part of the first generation of women artists that to this today have not got the acknowledgement that they deserve, such as Elizabeth Murray who is finally getting hers with a retrospective at the MOMA this month.  Snyder considers herself a feminist.  Her work is spiritual, abstract and graphic at the same time.  I truly loved every piece in the exhibit.  Her work is just beautiful and moving.  You can tell how much she enjoys working through art. She not only uses paint but pieces of cloth or found items and some pieces have writings on them.  She has incorporated a variety of different techniques into her work. It is such an uplifting experience to walk through an exhibit and be turned on to an artist that you never even knew about.  Perhaps I have been in the closet on this one but I am thrilled that I finally found what is inside.  Joan Snyder’s work is glorious.